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Malaysia debates whether to debate religious issues

Malaysian politicians wrangled yesterday about whether to curb sensitive debates on religious disputes in the Muslim-majority nation after protests halted a conference on Islamic conversions.

Police told the Bar Council association of lawyers to abort the forum on Saturday after more than 300 demonstrators rallied outside the conference hall and threatened to storm the event.

The forum was supposed to be a rare public platform to examine how Malaysian families are caught in legal conflicts if one spouse in a marriage converts to Islam. The protesters claimed it reflected unfair demands by non-Muslim minorities for religious equality.

Government leaders insisted Malaysia was not ready for freewheeling dialogues about religion that could undermine multicultural tolerance and social peace.

Malaysian Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said “there are certain things that are out of bounds for public discussion, even if held in a private place.”

Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein urged Malaysians “not to think that openness is an absolute right.”

However, some non-Muslim politicians called the protest a setback to hopes of resolving disputes in a young nation with a history of ethnic tensions.

“We believe open discussions and dialogues on ... issues [of] religious conversions are imperative to find solutions,” said Mohan, a youth leader in the Malaysian Indian Congress.

Tony Pua, an opposition member of parliament, said that if lawyers were “not allowed to hold open discussions in relation to our Constitution and its laws, then it makes a complete mockery of our legal system.”

The Bar Council had organized the conference in response to concerns that the law fails to safeguard minority rights in religious conversion cases.

Malaysia’s Buddhist, Christian and Hindus minorities have felt that they are treated like second-class citizens because of court verdicts that favor Muslims. In a case last year, Malaysia’s highest court rejected a Hindu woman’s plea to stop her Muslim-convert husband from changing their son’s religion to Islam.
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